The regeneration of cells and cell sheets mediated by thermoresponsive substrates represents an important and ever growing area in tissue engineering. This review seeks to track the development of this field from inception to the present day by highlighting the most significant breakthroughs as well as focusing on important physical and chemical characterization of substrates produced for this specific purpose. Furthermore, a critical evaluation encompassing the advantages and disadvantages of different techniques used for producing such surfaces will be included as well as suggestions for possible future directions.

In this work, polymer-drugs conjugates used as drug delivery systems (DDS) are revised attending to their chemical conjugation. Namely, the classification of this type of DDS is based on the conjugation sites of the reactive groups (i.e., via end groups or pendant polymer groups). Advantages and limitations of these types of DDS are discussed through representative examples of polymer-drugs and polymer-proteins conjugates recently developed.